Betty: the pretty edition
by dyeyell
Summary: A/U that shows what happens at Mode when Betty decides change is good and gets braces before she starts college. So she ends up starting at Mode as pretty Betty.
1. Introduction: New Betty

Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty.

Beatriz Suarez had finally ended her hellish time at Queens Borough High School. Sure, she did well academically, well enough that most of her tuition at Queens College would be covered by scholarships, but socially, high school had been a nightmare.

Not only did Betty spend four years being tortured by the likes of Kimmie Keegan, she had also never attended one school dance, ironically lost her best friend to that awful right-of-passage known as the Prom, never had even the inkling of a date, had been constantly teased and talked down to, had been nicknamed 'granny pants' all four years (which was incidentally started by that terror Kimmie), had her lunch flipped to the ground by said terror countless times, and to top it all, Betty Suarez had been called ugly every day, yes literally every day, of high school. Whether it was to her face or behind her back, Betty had been made to know without a doubt that she was ugly. From her bad teeth to her bad hair, from her not size zero waist to her hideous glasses, Betty was ugly.

So the night of her high school graduation, while everyone else was attending house parties and drinking themselves into an oblivion that was sure to lead to at least one pregnancy and several DUIs, Betty was at home celebrating with her parents Ignacio and Rosa, and her sister Hilda and her nephew Justin.

Later in her room, in the darkness, Betty lay awake. It was 1am and she couldn't sleep. She felt like she was on the edge of a precipice. That if she could just think clearly enough, she would float, possibly plummet, into something profound. And as Betty started to drift asleep, forgetting what it was she was trying to think of, fate stepped in, and Betty caught the thought that had been alluding her all day, and felt herself fall over the precipice and into a realization.

Betty sat up in bed suddenly, the prospect of immediate sleep fell away and she hopped out of bed. Turning on a light, Betty grabbed a notebook and pen and perched herself on the edge of her bed.

Betty had decided then and there that change was good. That changing was a part of growing up and that life could become better as a result of that change.

Betty had spent her whole young life repeating the same patterns over and over, expecting everyone else to evolve enough to accept her, and that hadn't done any good. If Betty wanted the next four years to be better, she would have to change, even just a little.

Betty didn't really want to change who she was deep down, but she was not going to let life keep passing her by because she was afraid of failing or looking like a fool. After all, Betty had spent her four years of high school looking like a fool or a dork or whatever other label people wanted to put on her.

She was going to dive in head first and take charge. Betty was not going to start and end college as the shy clumsy ugly duckling. She was not going to spend another four years feeling like an outcast.

So Betty did what she does best, she made a list:

1. get a job

2. use money from job to get braces before school starts

3. join Queens College gym

4. work steadily toward my goal of running my own magazine

5. be a better Betty

With the list done, and a new lease on her life, Betty fell into bed excited but exhausted. Sleep overcame her the moment her head hit the pillow.

* * *

><p>Despite not getting a chance to interview for a position at Meade Pulications, Betty was excited. She had gone to Manhatten that morning and was back in Queens at her dentist's office in the afternoon.<p>

'Today is the day!' Betty thought excitedly. She had spent the past four years with braces. Going to college with braces had not been the greatest experience, but it was better than starting the workforce with them, she reasoned. She only regretted not being able to get them sooner... but Betty quickly pushed that thought out of her mind. Her family hadn't been able to afford braces before, and it was better late than never.

The pointless morning at the Meade building had been a low point, but her whole day, her whole life really, went to an all time high as she looked at her newly revealed perfect teeth. It felt odd being able to easily glide her tongue over the white surfaces. But Betty couldn't stop smiling at herself as she looked in the hand held mirror at Dr. Farkus' office.

Later, Betty entered her house to find it completely dark. She fumbled for the light switch, but before she could reach it everything became bright and colorful and her family jumped out at her and yelled, "surprise!"

Betty was taken aback as she saw a huge banner with 'Congrats Betty!' painted across it. She also saw the dining room table laden with her favorite foods that had been off limits for the past four years. Hilda and Justin ran over to her and they all started to jump up and down excitedly with Betty flashing her teeth at them in a bright smile.

After the Suarez family had had their fill of popcorn, candy apples, licorice, nuts and other hard and sticky foods, Betty retired to her room. Her family had been disappointed to hear about the interview or lack thereof, but Betty had waved them off, insisting that tomorrow would be better and that she just wanted to enjoy the victory of getting her braces off.

As Betty sat on her bed reading Pride and Prejudice for the fifth time, Hilda sauntered in with her hands behind her back.

"Soo, I know you don't want to think about the job interview today, but I got you something for tomorrow," Hilda said with a huge grin.

Betty looked up at her older sister with a feeling of apprehension. "You didn't have to get me anything Hilda. The banner, the food, heck the braces being off is enough for me."

"Yeah, but what kind of sister would I be if I didn't get you an amazing new outfit that I found for 80% off after buying ten other things for myself," she said with a laugh, and pulled out a shopping bag she had hidden behind her back.

Normally, Betty would never dream of wearing anything her sister bought for her, but after holding up the brightly colored yet surprisingly professional dress in front of herself while looking in the mirror, she thought about how good it felt to have new perfect teeth and figured 'what the heck.'

Betty heard the phone ring downstairs and Justin called up a minute later, "Aunt Betty, it's for you! Some guy from Meat Publications!"

"Oh my god!," Betty cried and ran downstairs.

Betty grabbed the phone from Justin, "This is Betty Suarez."

_"You applied for a job at Meade Publications, is that correct?"_

"Mm hmm."

_"Well we have a position for you if you're still available."_

"Are you serious?" Betty questioned, feeling dumbfounded.

_"Yes, can you start tomorrow?"_

"Yeah! I - yeah, of course I - I can start tomorrow," Betty stuttered out, her mind racing.

_"Good. You'll be working as an assistant for the new editor-in-chief."_

"Um, what magazine is this for?"

_"Mode."_

"Mode?" Betty asked perplexed, not remembering if she had heard of the magazine before. Justin squealed and jumped up with a huge grin on his face and raced out of the room.

_"Yes, you need to be at human resources at 8am."_

"Yeah, I'll be there first thing in the morning."

_"See you tomorrow."_

"Okay. Thank you. Bye!" As Betty hung up, Justin returned with a copy of Mode magazine in his hands. "Assistant to the editor-in-chief!" Betty cried out happily.

"I didn't know you wanted to work for Mode," Justin said, putting the magazine on the kitchen table.

"Well, this wouldn't have been my first choice, but..." Betty started, thumbing through a copy of the large glossy high fashion magazine, "If I do good here, I can go anywhere in the company."

"Well just try and dress fashionably. Do you have anything?" Justin asked skeptically, but Hilda came in holding up the new dress and heels with a huge smile on her face. 'Thank god for Hilda,' Betty thought. "Actually, I do," Betty said out loud, her huge bright braces-free smile in place.

* * *

><p>Betty walked confidently off the elevator and onto the 28th floor of the Meade Publications building.<p>

_Hilda had insisted on blowing out her hair till it was bone straight and securing Betty's growing bangs to the side. "With that smile and dress, you can't go in with your old hair style," Hilda had declared. Her father had come into her room and held out a small rectangular box. "And not without some new eyes either mija," her father had said affectionately. Before Betty could protest, her father went on, "I got these for you for when you started your new career. Justin says these are coming back into style, whatever that means."_

_Betty had opened the small box to discover a new pair of darker red glasses with a more modern rectangular frame. "Aww Papi, this is way too much," Betty had sighed, tears beginning to form. But Hilda had taken command and further insisted that new hair and new glasses wouldn't do much without better looking eyebrows. _

_So Betty had found herself on the receiving end of a torture she had always avoided but Hilda had fervently wanted to do for the last ten years. Betty went along with the program to appease the wicked look in Hilda's eyes, but mostly to continue to ride the wave of change that had swept Betty along when she had first made her list four years ago._

So now with her new teeth, hair, glasses, eyebrows (thank god no longer stinging or red from invasive plucking), a little makeup and a new outfit, Betty felt smart, more confident and for the first time... beautiful.


	2. Pretty Betty meets the Playboy

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Ugly Betty.

_So this chapter follows along with the story of the first episode, though if you've obsessively watched it like me, you'll be able to pinpoint the differences. I thought it was best to go with the original Mode foundation before jumping off. Major canon stories will be present in future chapters, but with the obvious pretty Betty twist. Walter won't be making an appearance, because well he's annoying and this new Betty knew better :)_

_I hope the changing perspectives between Betty and Daniel don't rattle anyone, but let me know and I'll see what I can do._

* * *

><p>Amanda Tanen knew style. If she was being honest with herself, Amanda Tanen <em>was<em> style.

So when this short latina girl came walking out of the elevator and up to the donut shaped receptionist desk (mmm donuts...), Amanda cast a "professional" gaze on her.

The young woman was no model by any stretch of the imagination, and Amanda could be _very_ imaginative. But Amanda did admit that the young woman was pretty (by normal people standards anyway), and even though the red dress she wore was not high fashion (definitely not Mode material), it hugged the latina in all the right ways, highlighting her large bosom (god she hated that) and cinching her small waist with a thin black belt.

Amanda didn't immediately hate her shoes or her purse, which was saying something, because Amanda was the connoisseur of accessories (connoisseur was a thing right?). Yet, the black heels were only three inches high Amanda noted with some satisfaction (three inches are for the fashionably challenged), and the black purse was definitely a knock-off (eww!).

The young woman was a little on the chunky side, again Amanda was satisfied. But the glasses had to go (geek chic is never a thing).

"Can I help you with something?" Amanda asked in the most snide tone she could come up with.

Betty decided to ignore the bitchiness, "Yes, I just started work today."

"For?"

"The new editor-in-chief," Betty said with pride, noting the tick in the receptionist's face.

Amanda quickly gathered her wits and pushed aside the building jeolousy (hell had frozen over if she was jealous of this one). "Follow me," she said tersely and Amanda sashayed down the tube at Mode as if she was on a runway. "So, everyone's in the conference room and Daniel's about to start his first staff meeting. I'm Amanda by the way."

"Betty."

"Okay, Betsy," Amanda said, and she leaned in and raised an eyebrow, "just so you know, assistants are usually here _before_ their bosses."

"It's Betty, and don't worry Amanda, I'll be fine. No need to worry your pretty head about me," Betty replied and gave Amanda her sweetest and most determined smile, and before Amanda could say anything else Betty turned and walked away.

'She's right, I _am_ pretty. I might actually tolerate this one,' Amanda thought, and sashayed back to her desk.

Betty hated being late, so she quickened her pace to the conference room where Amanda had gestured, hoping to slip in quietly.

Thwack!

Betty had run straight into the glass doors of the conference room. Her head hit the glass, she teetered back on her three inch heels and landed on her butt. Thankfully nothing embarassing was shown during the fall, though the mortification of running into a door was sure to stay with Betty the rest of the day.

Betty quickly got up, cursing Hilda in her head for forcing such high heels on her, and opened the door to the room. Every eye was on her, including a pair of bright blue ones whose owner questioned if she was alright. Betty shyly replied that she was fine, and made her way to the back of the room to find a seat.

The young man who had questioned her was in fact standing at the front of the room and continued speaking. Betty realized he must be the new editor-in-chief, Daniel Meade, and forced herself to focus on his words. She noticed him glance at her a few times, but then Betty whipped out a pad and pencil from her black 'plada' purse and began to take notes.

In the middle of his introduction, a beautiful and highly fashionable woman strode through the door like she owned the place. Betty noticed a simpering man following her and assumed he must be her assistant.

Betty was surprised that this woman (from her earlier research Betty recognized her as the creative director of Mode, Wilhelmina Slater) had the balls to interrupt the editor-in-chief not just once but several times. She insulted him with the childish moniker 'Danny' on a tacky crystal statue, then proceeded to take over the meeting and adjourn it.

Daniel looked like he had had the air knocked out of him, but Betty was determined to introduce herself and forget her earlier clumsy episode. "Mr. Meade, excuse me, Mr Meade," Betty said confidently, tapping the man on his shoulder. Finally he turned around, seeming to come out of his stupor. "Hi, I wanted to introduce myself. I'm Betty Suarez. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hi Betty. Um, who do you work for?"

"Well, I work for you. I'm your new assistant," Betty beamed.

Daniel was pleasantly surprised by his father's new hire. The young woman wasn't his usual fair, but she was beautiful, albeit a little clumsy. He smiled inwardly when he thought of her earlier run in with the conference room door. "Well it's good to have you aboard, Betty. Just follow me and I'll show you to your desk."

* * *

><p>Betty was seated at her new desk in front of her computer, and she was intent on helping Daniel as much as possible (he certainly seemed to need the help after that disastrous meeting). But Betty also figured if she could come up with some good ideas of her own, then maybe she would be on her way to becoming an editor, then running her own magazine someday.<p>

Amanda, who seemingly came out of nowhere, dropped a package on Betty's desk and looked over her shoulder. "So, what are you working on?"

Betty jumped a little at Amanda's sudden appearance. "Just researching Fabia Cosmetics for Daniel."

"Fabia? God that woman is so fabulously douchey." Amanda said, and sat on Betty's desk, whipping out her nail file and acting as if she were Betty's best friend. "So I see Daniel's still in there with the 'human tripod' Phillippe."

"What?" Betty was slightly disgusted by the image. "Oh yeah, Phillippe Michel the photographer."

"Is Daniel using him for the Fabia supplement?"

"Yeah, Daniel's trying really hard to come up with some good ideas," Betty replied, trying to maneuver around Amanda.

"Well, considering it's Daniel Meade, we'll see how that goes," Amanda said with a laugh. "You know, Daniel hooked up with Phillippe's ex-girlfriend a couple years back. I'm sure he's over it now though. So what are you doing for lunch Betsy?"

"Again Amanda, it's Betty. I brought a lunch. I wasn't sure what they had to eat here."

"Oh Betsy, there's so much you have to learn. No one really eats here. At least I don't. Just stick with me and I'll show you how things work." With that Amanda sashayed back to her desk.

After being interrupted by Amanda and learning that the man Daniel was in a meeting with was a 'human tripod,' Betty looked at the time on her computer, it was 12:30 and time for lunch.

Though Daniel was still in his meeting with Phillippe, Betty sighed, got up and went to his office. "Sorry to interrupt, but can I get you lunch?"

Daniel turned to look at his new assistant, and checked her out as she stood at the door. "No, no, but you go ahead. Thanks Betty."

Betty hesitated, then spoke again loudly, indicating the photographer. "Hi, I'm a really big fan of yours," Phillippe turned around and smiled when he took in the curvy young woman. "That travel layout you did with the tiki torches, wow that was really gorgeous."

Phillippe smiled even more broadly. "Thank you."

Without thinking, Betty continued on. "It kind of reminded me of this Hiroaki spread I'd seen a couple of years ago."

Phillippe frowned and his quickness to anger overcame him, "Hey, I don't know what you're implying, but I would never use another photographer's idea." Daniel smiled at the exchange between the two, he loved seeing Phillippe taken down by his diminutive assistant.

Betty's eyes grew wide and panic started to settle in her stomach. "No, I wasn't implying that you had used the idea, um, lots of photography..." she trailed off, looking to Daniel for help, but he was smiling at the situation, which slightly annoyed her. "I should go," Betty almost whimpered before catching herself and she spun back around and walked out the door.

Phillippe silently fumed for a few moments. His slight attraction to the woman turned to hatred at the thought of her almost accusation. Phillippe was not a man to be trifled with. He had many qualities, but forgiveness was not one of them. Of course, if Daniel had known this, he may not have listened to the photographer, but as it was Daniel relegated his past action of stealing Phillippe's woman as 'water under the bridge.'

With a sudden lighthearted change in tone that did not match his mood, Phillippe questioned the playboy in front of him. "What's the story here? I know the type of women you hire."

Daniel shrugged. "My father made me."

"You're kidding me."

"Look, she's not a model, but she's pretty enough and seems capable," Daniel replied, slightly irked at Phillippe's remarks.

"Sure she's pretty, but she talks too much. Not to mention, your father is still pulling the strings," Phillippe replied, inwardly pleased at the change in Daniel's face at the mention of his father.

"Yeah, I don't like that my father can still control any part of my life, but I can't fire her Phillippe," Daniel said, the thought of his father hiring his assistant made him feel like a child.

"What if she quit?."

"How do I get her to quit?" Daniel questioned, and Phillippe knew that he had Daniel in his grasp.

"We crush her, to a pulp."

* * *

><p>Betty went to lunch. Amanda wasn't completely right, because as she scanned the room for somewhere to sit, she did notice a lot of salads. Of course, there wasn't much of anything else.<p>

Betty smiled brightly whenever anyone stared at her, though they looked away quickly as if her smile were the sun and it could actually blind them.

She saw Amanda sitting at a long table. The pretty receptionist tilted her head slightly, gave her a small smile and a raised eyebrow to indicate the very small salad in front of her. Betty smiled back and raised her brown bag lunch. Amanda moved her hand to her mouth and made a retching motion.

Betty kept walking and rolled her eyes. She got the feeling that Amanda was pretty overly dramatic. Finally, Betty found an empty stool.

No sooner had she sat down then a pretty bohemian-looking blond woman sidled up to her. "Hey you. Betty right? Daniel Meade's new assistant?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Oh, everybody knows everything around here. I'm Christina. I work in the closet," Christina replied, her friendly eyes matching her smile.

"The closet?"

"Mm-hmm. Where all the clothes are kept. I act as an in-house seamstress, sort of keep track of things. Sometimes, they even let me keep some of the crappy stuff from last season, but you know, I have to improvise 'cause _everything_ is a size zero!" Christina emphasized this by sucking in her stomach and indicating the mismatched jacket flaps. "Voila!"

"Nice," Betty responded, smiling at Christina.

"Anyway, well I like it, mostly 'cause I'm by myself, away from all the chic-ees."

"The chic-ees?" Betty wondered.

Christina lowered her voice conspiratorially. "The bitches that work at Mode." Then Christina straightened up and looked over Betty's shoulder. "Hey girls. Zelda, Nancy, this is Betty!"

As Betty spent the rest of her lunch with the 'normal' people at Mode, Amanda headed out arm in arm with Wilhelmina's assistant Marc. "Oh my god, it's the bizarro version of Sex and the City!" Marc exclaimed, looking at Betty's little group and shuddering.

"I don't know Marc, I sort of like that little enchilada," Amanda said, licking her lips suggestively.

* * *

><p>Betty couldn't decide if Daniel had lost his mind or was intentionally trying to make her life hell.<p>

He wanted her to take the cabbage out of coleslaw and have the 'dressing' back to him before it got to room temperature. Betty would have spent an hour pulling each shred of cabbage out, if she hadn't had the brilliant idea of pushing the whole container of coleslaw through a potato ricer she borrowed from the kitchen.

Less than ten minutes later she was back in Daniel's office with a bowl of coleslaw sans the slaw. "Anything else, Mr. Meade," Betty asked, smiling as brightly as she could.

Daniel was thrown off for a second by Betty's beautiful smile and the quickness with which she brought the disgusting soupy dish, but he quickly pulled it together and sent her off to do another 'errand.'

So the week went on, with Daniel attempting to get Betty to quit, and Betty determined to survive at Mode. 'At least I'm dressed alright,' Betty thought. She silently thanked her sister and Justin while she scoured the city for the 'perfect' dry cleaners that Daniel needed for his suits.

When Daniel called at 3:23am, Betty ignored it. She was not his assistant off the clock, so she let the call go to voicemail.

Daniel got her back the next day by having her walk his Great Dane for an hour. Though Betty had the feeling it was not his dog as it dragged her through the streets of Manhattan.

As Betty scrubbed gum off his shoe with her Mode id card the next day, she inwardly battled herself on whether or not she should say something to Daniel about his outrageous requests.

Of course, Betty had no idea what outrageous was until the end of that work day. While Betty was on her way out, Daniel requested that she play buffer for his 'dates' that night. As Daniel stood there, his hands on his hips and a smirk across his face, Betty slowly turned around to face him.

"Mr. Meade, as much as I would love to make sure that the various women you entertain don't run into each other. It's my father's birthday and I really need to get home to help celebrate," Betty said slowly, picking her words carefully.

Daniel had a moment of weakness. He liked Betty despite himself and found that he was attracted to her. But the image of his looming father strengthened his resolve. "Well Betty, if you think that's more important than your _job_."

On the inside, Betty was furious, but on the outside, Betty kept herself calm and collected and put on her most endearing smile. "Well Daniel," she said, using his first name for the first time, and trying not to be sarcastic when she said it, "seeing as how I was hired as your assistant for the _office_ and during _office_ hours and _Mode_ related functions, and _not_ so you can deliberately deceive women _after_ office hours at your _apartment_," Betty took a breath, "then I'm sure my job will be fine."

Daniel was shocked by Betty's firmness and candor, and felt himself give in. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then," he said weakly.

"Alright," she said brightly, her smile widening. And with that, she turned around and walked out of his office, leaving Daniel to wonder if trying to get her to quit was a good idea or even possible.

* * *

><p>After her dad went to bed, Betty sat on the couch, exhausted from her long day at work and the party. She knew she had won a small victory that day with Daniel, but Betty wasn't sure if she could keep it up. The thought of being Daniel Meade's assistant for possibly years, while he treated her like crap, made her shudder.<p>

As she contemplated her situation, Betty looked around and noticed the picture of herself as little girl with her mother. That made Betty smile, and as she studied the photo of her younger self putting blush on her mother's cheek, Betty had an epiphany. She whipped out a notebook and started working on an idea for the Fabia Cosmetics supplement.

* * *

><p>Betty tried talking to Daniel as they went down the elevator and to the Fabia shoot, but Daniel had decided that ignoring her was his best course of action. As they went out to the street, Betty gathered her resolve. "Do you have a quick moment?" Betty asked Daniel, determined to show him her idea.<p>

"Do I look like I have a quick moment?" Daniel rudely replied.

Betty hesitated. She decided to ignore his rudeness and try again, but Daniel turned around suddenly, with irritation showing on his face. "Damn it, they forgot one of the outfits. Go up to the closet and bring it to the set," Daniel ordered. Before Betty could say anything else, Daniel hopped into the town car and was driven off.

She sighed, but went back into the building and headed for the closet.

Five minutes later, Betty found herself waiting in the closet for Christina to bring out the outfit for the shoot. Betty tried not to, but she felt herself wallowing in her situation.

"So how's it going?" Christina asked, noticing the sad look on Betty's face.

"Um," Betty considered, trying to think of a way to spin her terrible situation.

But Christina could see the truth on Betty's face. "Brutal."

Betty's spirit broke a little in front of her new friend. "Nothing I do is good enough. He treats me like dirt. I thought I had won a battle yesterday, by not letting him use me as his _mistress_ buffer, but just now I was trying to show him this one idea that I had," Betty indicated the green folder in her hand. "It would have taken him _one_ minute to look at it, but he was just so rude. Why did he even hire me?"

"Well Betty," Christina hesitated, not sure if she should tell her friend. "Nancy was down in human resources... And apparently Daniel didn't hire you, Bradford Meade did."

"Bradford Meade knows who I am?" Betty asked excitedly.

"Yes, and he hired you for his son... because you're not his usual model type, so he figured Daniel wouldn't be tempted to sleep with you," Christina said quickly. She noticed the stunned look on Betty's face. "But I have no idea what that man was thinking. You're not six feet tall and the size of my finger, but you're really beautiful Betty and I'm sure if Daniel pulled his head out of his arse for one second he would try to sleep with you too."

"Well," Betty started, unsure of what to say to that surprising bit of news, "I've never even considered sleeping with Daniel Meade. So, if he ever did pull his head out of... whatever... it wouldn't even matter to me. But hey, I guess this was how I was supposed to get the job."

"Oh don't say that Betty," Christina said, slightly distressed at her friend's sad demeanor. "He's probably more upset that his father has to make all his decisions for him."

"I'm sure you're right about that Christina," Betty replied, trying to contain her emotions. "Thanks for telling me. I should probably head over to the shoot now." She got up and headed out, leaving her supplement behind.

Betty wondered how she should feel about the whole situation. She knew she wasn't ugly, though working at Mode did make her question that. But Betty also knew she wasn't a model or blonde or an idiot, which was apparently Daniel's type. So the fact that he wouldn't be tempted to sleep with her really shouldn't have made Betty feel _that_ bad.

Even though Betty knew she would never be thin like a model, she did weigh considerably less than she had in high school. Her short stature didn't even faze her anymore. And Betty thought she had a pretty decent looking face...

But none of that seemed to matter to the 'ugly' Betty that still lived deep down. The 'ugly' part of her that Betty had fought so hard to squash down over the last four years, which was now starting to rear its... well, ugly head... and Betty felt her old insecurities bubble up.

* * *

><p>Daniel cringed slightly as he walked over to Betty. Phillippe's malicious suggestion of having Betty stand in for an absent Brazilian model, as a sure way to get Betty to quit, was shaking Daniel's resolve at getting from under his father's thumb.<p>

But Daniel was a stubborn man and he figured Betty was smart enough and pretty enough to land on her feet. So before he could chicken out, Daniel walked up to Betty and put on his most sincere face. "Betty, I am _so_ glad you're here. We have a crisis and I really need your help. One of our models didn't show up, and we really need someone to stand in for her... in wardrobe."

Betty wasn't sure of what Daniel was asking, so she clarified, "you want _me_ to do it."

"Yeah."

"So this is what _you_ want me to do," Betty said, unsure of how to feel about this new outrageous request.

"Yeah."

Without saying another word, Betty turned and walked to the dressing room. She knew that she couldn't reasonably go off on Daniel, since he was asking her to do this at a Mode function and she was on the clock. It certainly wasn't like he was asking her to pose naked. Though as Betty opened the garment bag and looked at the leather outfit inside, she figured he might as well have asked her to be naked.

Though Betty was no longer the girl she was in high school, there was still a small part of her that felt terrible about herself. And though Betty wasn't exactly fat, she knew there was no way anyone not the height and width of a model looked good in _that_ outfit. But Betty was a professional, and pushed aside all desire to run away.

As Betty marched out of the dressing room in the skin tight ensemble, a smile plastered on her face, she heard gasps. "Where do you want me?" Betty asked, directing her words to Phillippe.

"Over here," Phillippe said, indicating a spot between two unbelievably tall models. And Betty walked stiffly over to the 'car crash' scene that made up the background for the Fabia shoot.

Daniel couldn't believe that Betty had actually come out dressed in that hideous getup. He didn't think she looked that bad, but he heard the quiet snickers around him and saw the look on her face, and he felt two inches tall.

Betty stood between the models, and felt every inch of her 5 foot 1 inch stature like never before. She felt like her front and back were hanging out of the leather, and her not completely flat stomach stuck out a bit between the two pieces of the indecent costume.

As loud pop music played and Phillippe yelled out encouragement to all the models, Betty could feel every eye on her. She began to pose as well, not sure what to do with her body and not wanting to just stand there. Betty began to hear snickers and then outright laughing.

Daniel looked horrified and yelled at Phillippe. "Stop it!" And the laughing continued. "Stop it!"

Betty felt a wave of panic flood her and found herself running out of the shoot, grabbing her bag, and continuing out to the street.

She had almost made it outside when she heard Daniel cry out. "Betty wait!"

Betty turned around to find Daniel running up to her with a look of shame on his face. But Betty was through being nice to this man. "This is what you wanted isn't it! To humiliate me, make me quit! God forbid you had to with the _ugly_ girl your father forced you to hire! Well, congratulations!"

With that, Betty Suarez turned away from Daniel Meade and went home.

* * *

><p>Betty was frustrated. She had just spent two hours on the phone trying to speak with someone at her father's HMO about them covering his medication. She hung up the phone with a sigh. She needed a break.<p>

Her father was in the kitchen with making dinner, and he came over to give Betty a hug and a pep talk.

Just then there was a knock at the front door and Betty went to see who it was.

Betty was surprised to see Daniel through the curtained glass of the door. She opened it warily and Daniel stepped in. "What are you doing here, Daniel?" Betty questioned, wondering if he was fully aware that she had quit earlier that day.

"I want to talk to you Betty," Daniel quietly replied, and followed Betty as she turned and walked to the dining room. "It's a nice place."

"Yeah, we're just in between interior designers," Betty said sarcastically. She turned to a pile of laundry she had been folding earlier.

"Really?"

"No," Betty replied, giving Daniel a slightly incredulous look.

"Oh, right. It's a joke," he said, slightly embarrassed. He pulled himself together and dove in. "Betty, I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve what I put you through this week and especially at that horrible photoshoot. I listened to all the wrong people about a lot of things. And I have no one to blame but myself about the disaster with the Fabia supplement, which bombed by the way... And I don't know if this matters to you coming from me, but Betty, you are _not_ ugly... far from it."

Betty could tell that Daniel was being sincere and the implication that he found her attractive was nice, but she was still too angry about the past week of hell he had put her through. "Well I appreciate that Daniel. But you're going to leave here and go back to your privileged life and I'm still going to be here... with no job and problems you'll never understand."

"Try me. Come on Betty, we've all got problems," Daniel said. He reached out a hand to her, but she pulled back as if his hand could burn.

Betty rounded on Daniel and restrained herself from completely going off on the man in front of her. "Really Daniel? What are yours. What five star restaurant you're going to eat at, what model you're going to sleep with!" Betty saw him cringe, but kept going. "How about you spend the day on the phone with some crappy HMO _trying _to get them to cover your dad's prescriptions. Or try lining up a job, _any_ job, 'cause you have to help pay the rent next month."

Daniel took in her words. He knew there was no way he could sweet talk Betty into coming back, so Daniel did what he hadn't done since he was a little boy vying for his father's attention, he opened himself up. "I lost a brother a while back. He was the good one in our family. And I've never quite measured up. But I'm trying, though my father will never think I'm good enough... Betty, I could never compare my problems to yours, but they're mine. Nothing's ever easy."

Daniel took a breath. "I saw the layout you made for Fabia," he said.

"You did?" Betty was surprised.

"It was very smart and beautiful... just like you. I want to bring it to Fabia. Giving you credit of course. I want you to come back and be my assistant Betty. I promise things will be different."

"I have to think about that, Daniel," Betty said, not sure what to do anymore or how to take his compliment.

"Well, you have tonight, otherwise tomorrow it looks like we'll both be out of a job."

Daniel turned and walked away, leaving Betty to consider what he had offered her.

* * *

><p>Betty had Daniel meet her at the Mode offices at seven the next morning. Together they worked on putting her supplemental idea into a powerpoint presentation. They went back and forth scanning images, deciding picture order and coming up with a font that worked.<p>

It was the best morning Betty had had since she started working as Daniel's assistant. For Daniel, it was the most fun he had spent with a woman with no prospect of sex.

When the meeting with Fabia began, Betty and Daniel were a few minutes late, but launched into their presentation. Fabia seemed pleased with the idea, and left with her entourage in tow.

Bradford Meade walked up to his son to congratulate him, but Daniel, true to his word, attempted to give the credit to Betty.

Betty could see the pride in the older Meade's face, and knowing how much more it would mean to Daniel, interrupted him. "It was his best idea yet," she said sincerely.

Mr. Meade left them, and Daniel smiled widely at Betty. Wilhelmina passed by making sure she had her say. "Indeed. Welcome back boss," she said. "Marc!" Wilhelmina yelled for her assistant to follow her, and she stalked out of the room.

* * *

><p>As Betty walked out of the Meade building with Christina, she heard Daniel call her name. Betty turned to thank Christina again for leaving the supplement on Daniel's desk, but Christina pushed her to go talk to him.<p>

"You should've let me give you credit for the layout," Daniel said, a genuine smile on his face, just for Betty.

"Don't worry, I will the next time," she replied with a huge grin.

"Thanks," he laughed. As Betty launched into his schedule for the next day, Daniel cut her off. "It's okay, we'll go over that tomorrow. Did you need a ride home?"

"No, I'm okay. See you tomorrow, Daniel."

"See you tomorrow Betty." And Daniel watched her walk across the street and stumble slightly in her heels before steadying herself and continuing on.

Daniel smiled as he watched Betty leave and felt a warmth spread in his chest that he had never felt before.

_Author's Note: I know this chapter seems a little awkward, but I thought it was best to establish what a pushover and ass Daniel could be, and the pilot did that well enough that I didn't want to go all super A/U with the whole thing. But the next chapter will be fun._


	3. Pretty Betty saves the Book

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Ugly Betty.

_So I decided with this chapter to delve a little deeper into how others view Betty. It's set during the 'the box and the bunny' episode. Since Walter is not really a factor in Betty's life and Amanda doesn't immediately__hate her, there was a lot more space for what I like to call 'fun times with creative writing' without the Gina component or the bunny. Though I'm sure many of you will miss the bunny._

* * *

><p>Betty Suarez was excited. She was ecstatic. She was elated. Betty was any number of good feeling 'e' words, because her first <em>real<em> day as Daniel Meade's assistant was starting. Betty decided to dismiss the previous week spent at Mode and give everyone (mostly Daniel) another chance. Betty did _not_ hold grudges.

She sat in front of her mirror and carefully applied a layer of lipstick and pressed her lips together. She checked her teeth for lipstick stains and smiled. Sometimes Betty couldn't get over her new perfect teeth. She was sure no one at work really noticed, because they had never seen her with bad teeth or braces, but Betty felt almost like a new person when she smiled.

Her smile waned as she surveyed the contents of her closet. Hilda and Justin had managed to come through for her during that soon-to-be-forgotten week at Mode, but Betty was taking charge of her wardrobe once again and her prospects did not look good.

It wasn't until that moment that Betty realized that she had been relying on her mother's old clothes to get her through college. With a sigh Betty took out the least offensive flower print dress she owned and promised herself she would go shopping soon for new work clothes.

The hem was way too long, but she knew Justin could raise it in less than ten minutes. She pondered for a moment the weirdness of her young nephew wanting to see his aunt in a dress that went above the knee.

She found a thin white belt to define her waist and went to borrow a pair of white heels from Hilda. It was nice having a sister with the same shoe size who was willing to share.

A week ago Betty wouldn't have bothered so much with how she looked, but she found it made her feel good _and_ helped her blend in at Mode. Though she was eager to stand apart from everyone else when it came to her career, Betty still wanted to fit in socially and make friends.

She liked Christina and the other 'normal' women. Amanda was okay if you didn't mind the gossip and the drama. Leslie and Andy from photo was pretty funny. All in all, Betty felt positive about her future prospects at Mode.

* * *

><p>Marc watched Betty walk through the tube and head for her desk. She almost seemed to be dancing with bubbly energy and it made him sick to his stomach. If there was one thing Marc hated, besides capri pants, it was bubbly energy.<p>

She hadn't dressed too badly her first week, but now the ugly piñata stick had taken a whack at Betty, leaving a blooming nightmare in its wake.

Marc could almost feel his eyes burn.

He watched as Betty proceeded to carefully place one piece of kitsch after another on her desk, in what Marc could only assume was an attempt to lull him into a false sense of security before ramming her sunny disposition down his throat.

Well, he was having none of that. Marc St. James would strike first and make sure little miss knick knack didn't pull any tricks.

"Nice bunny." Marc tried to keep the sarcasm out of his voice and tear his eyes away from the pink horror on her desk.

"Thanks, my sister got it for me when I graduated from Queens College," Betty responded, her chipper voice grating on Marc's nerves.

"_Wow_, one of America's top _value_ colleges," he said sarcastically, though apparently little miss smiles-a-lot was in too good of a mood to notice. "Kudos on trying to personalize your workspace. It's so different, so _you_."

"Yeah, I like it," she beamed brightly.

After this exchange, Marc was through for the day. He felt like he was talking to a happy version of Elmo and would have been sick right then and there if Wilhelmina hadn't called him.

* * *

><p>From behind his desk, Daniel watched Betty decorate her space. She had a huge grin on her face as she meticulously placed each item.<p>

Since Daniel had spent most of his first week with Betty torturing her, he hadn't had much of an opportunity to really look at her. So as he examined her, the first thing Daniel really noticed about Betty was her smile. It was like her smile could light up the world.

Her figure was the next thing he noticed, but it may have been tied with the first. She was curvy and Daniel found himself really appreciating curves for the first time.

Her hair was beautiful and he felt himself wanting to go over to her and put his hands through it.

Maybe while kissing her soft full lips...

Daniel stopped himself. This was how he had gotten himself in trouble with his father the first time. The last thing he needed was to sleep with his new assistant, get caught by his father and end up with someone he really wouldn't be able to tolerate. Not to mention he actually respected Betty as a person. She had saved his ass on the Fabia account, and he owed her more than his leering gaze.

Yet Daniel couldn't help but notice how pretty Betty looked in her flower print dress. It made her look sweet and innocent and matched her happy exterior. She wasn't exactly dressed for high fashion, but Daniel thought Betty could pull off anything with the confidence she seemed to exude.

Daniel sighed as he looked back down at the paper he had been scanning. He caught sight of his name on the style page and bent down to read the small blurb. He had to read it several times before he understood the full implications of what it said and how it could hurt him.

He had worn foreign-made sweatshop shoes. Very _comfortable_ foreign-made sweatshop shoes.

Betty had made a mistake and he hated to point it out to her but he couldn't let it slide. As the editor-in-chief of a major fashion magazine who also represented a very important family in the world of business, he couldn't let his assistant slip up again about what clothes he wore to work. Daniel waited for her to finish talking to Marc, then motioned for her to come into his office.

* * *

><p>Daniel had invited Betty to listen in on the meeting for the Natalie Whitman cover and she was estactic. She was a huge fan of Natalie Whitman, and had seen every movie the actress had been in.<p>

But as she listened to the discussion about Natalie and her weight gain, and how important it seemed to everyone that Natalie not look fat on the cover, Betty felt disgusted. As far as Betty was concerned Natalie was perfect, but as the photo editor began to digitally alter Natalie's picture, she heard everyone's appreciative murmurs as if they were righting something that had gone wrong.

"Hmm," murmured Betty. But apparently she had been louder than she intended, because Natalie Whitman, _the_ Natalie Whitman, turned to Betty and asked, "what do you think?"

Betty could see from the looks coming from Daniel, Wilhelmina, the photo editor and Natalie's publicist, that they all wanted her to say nothing or to lie and say how much better the altered photo looked. But Betty hadn't spent the last four years reinventing herself to be cowed by the scary glances of fashionistas.

"Well Natalie... that picture looks great and everything, but you look so much better in person... as you really are." She saw Daniel cringe and could feel the evil eye Wilhelmina was giving her. "But it'll be you on the cover not me, so you should probably make the decision yourself... with your publicist." Betty conceded that last part because the publicist looked like he was about to jump at her from across the room, and since he was from Hollywood she figured it was a very real possibility.

Natalie seemed to consider Betty's words carefully before she spoke. "Thank you, for your honesty. I feel a little better hearing you say that. I was beginning to feel like the fattest person in the room." At that everyone gently admonished her for thinking any such thing. Didn't she know that they had her best interests at heart. "I'll let Edward make the final decision on this one, that's why I pay him." Everyone chuckled while Natalie's publicist escorted her out the door, giving Wilhelmina a discreet nod.

While Wilhelmina spoke to one of the editors, Daniel gathered his resolve. His father had spoken to him just before the meeting and informed him that it was Daniel's job as editor-in-chief to take care of the 'Book,' the mock-up of each following issue. Daniel had been embarrassed that he did not know that basic fact and was intent on proving himself capable.

Before Wilhelmina could leave the room herself, Daniel made sure she was aware that he knew about the Book and that it was his job to keep it. Wilhelmina didn't seem so inclined to hand it over though.

Betty stared between the two titans (more like David and Goliath really), and waited to see which one would fold. Yet Wilhelmina knew she was defeated when Daniel refused to back down. There didn't seem to be a way to openly defy him on this matter without losing her job. "As you wish," she said calmly before turning around and walking out the door. Betty could swear she had felt her heart stutter during the brief ordeal, but she was proud of Daniel's take-charge attitude.

* * *

><p>"Betty you have to just go with the vibe in the room when you're in a situation like that," Daniel told her later.<p>

"What if I don't agree with the 'vibe' in the room Daniel?"

"It's whatever is best for the magazine," he replied.

"Seriously, the way everyone was acting in there... like she looked awful in those photos, and like the altered photo was so much better. It was disgusting." Betty shuddered slightly at the memory.

Daniel smirked at her. "As much as I love your enthusiasm for the feminist movement Betty, this _is_ a fashion magazine."

"Yeah I know, but I just wish fashion didn't involve making women, especially beautiful women like Natalie, feel terrible."

"Well _you_ have nothing to worry about there Betty," Daniel said nonchalantly, checking his text messages.

Betty felt suddenly awkward. "Thanks, I guess. But I didn't always look like this," she said, gesturing to herself. "Two weeks ago I had braces, bangs, huge eyebrows and the same glasses I had worn since high school. Four years ago, I would have definitely been the fattest one in the room."

Daniel's eyes went wide. "Really? Two weeks ago you had all that going on with you. I don't believe you." He looked thoughtful. "Well you'll have to show me a picture, because there's no way I can believe you weren't always this good-looking," he said with a wink.

Betty smiled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah thanks for the compliment boss, but we'll see if you have any more of those when you see a photo." Then Betty turned and walked out, thinking Daniel was a goof and had no idea what ugly was.

* * *

><p>Betty sat at her desk sending off a few last emails. Amanda walked by hand on hip and greeted Betty with a "hey" and a wink. A minute later she walked out arm in arm with Daniel.<p>

Betty sighed. Her day was almost finally over. She finished cleaning up her area then went to Daniel's office and began to organize his desk.

The Book, the holy grail of Mode, sat on his desk... vulnerable.

Betty was sure Daniel was already out the building and in a town car. She didn't think the Book would be safe there all night with the creepy janitor guy. Betty bit her lip and contemplated bringing it home with her, but dismissed that idea immediately. She figured Daniel was heading back to his loft with Amanda, and that if she was quick enough, she could get there before the 'fun' began. She cringed at the thought of interrupting them.

So she called Daniel to let him know about the Book, but it rang then went to voicemail. "Daniel, it's Betty, I have the Book here at Mode and I don't want to just leave it, so I'm bringing it to your place. I hope you get this before you... go do anything."

She stuffed the Book in her large white bohemian purse, left the Meade building, and despite the cost took a taxi to Daniel's place. As she rode in the taxi, she tried texting him, but got no response.

The doorman recognized her as Daniel's harried assistant from the previous week and let her up. Betty knocked on his door for a good fifteen minutes before calling him on her cell. Again it went to voicemail. "Daniel it's Betty again, I'm outside your door. I have the Book... it's safe. It's now 8pm... so I'll be here I guess... when you get here."

She then called her house and Hilda picked up. "Hey Hilda."

_"Let me guess, you're at work."_

"Don't sound like that."

_"Whatever Betty, it's always work when you call this late," _Hilda said grumpily.

"Well, tonight it really _is_ important. Daniel left the Book at work and I have to make sure he has it. I'm at his place waiting for him to get here. As soon as I hand it off, I'll head home. I don't know how long it'll take, so tell Papi not to wait up," Betty replied quickly.

_"The 'Book,' what in the heck is the 'Book'?"_

In the background, Betty could hear Justin cry out, _"oh my god! Does Aunt Betty have the Book! For Mode!"_

Betty smiled. "I'm sure Justin can explain it better than I can Hilda. I have to go."

_"Okay Betty. Be safe. And don't let that boss of yours have you do anything else tonight or I'm kicking his butt!"_

"Okay Hilda."

Betty closed her cell phone and settled herself on the floor in front of Daniel's door. She took out the Book and flipped through it carefully, periodically texting Daniel and making mental notes of things she thought could be rearranged and a few spelling errors. Her first name, she noticed, was spelled 'Betsy.'

As Betty continued to peruse the pages, she felt a sudden shock. The unretouched photos of Natalie Whitman were in the Book! She knew that Natalie's publicist had directed that they use the altered ones and she had even seen the photo editor working on them.

Betty smiled to herself. 'Maybe that talk I had with him changed his mind,' she thought. 'Natalie really does look better as her real...' Betty yawned, 'self.' Betty had had a long day and sitting at Daniel's door was making her sleepy. She closed the Book slowly, held it close to her body and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>Daniel was having a <em>very <em>good time with Amanda. They kissed in the elevator on the way up to his loft. They spilled out into the hallway, Daniel picked Amanda up and she wrapped her legs around him. He slowly walked with her to his door, distracted by her mouth and hands.

He had almost reached his door when it all came tumbling down.

There were several cries of pain as Daniel tripped over something heavy and fell on top of Amanda.

"Aargh!"

"Ow! What the hell!"

"Ehhh!"

"Get off of me!"

"I can't breathe!"

"My ass! I've broken my ass!"

"God why are you two so heavy!"

"Betty!" "Betty!"

"Yes! Who do you think it is, will you please get off of me!" Betty cried out in pain.

A few moments later Daniel managed to extricate them all from the floor. As Amanda stood clutching her butt and checking it for permanent damage, Daniel turned to Betty. "What the heck are you doing sitting in front of my door in the middle of the night Betty?"

"Oh my god Betty, I think you've killed my ass!" Amanda cried out panic-stricken.

Betty, trying to rub life back into her legs, shot Daniel an angry look. "Well maybe if you answered your phone then I wouldn't be here at..." she looked at her watch, "freaking one in the morning!"

"I'm not kidding you two, my ass is kiiilllling me!" Daniel and Betty ignored Amanda's anguished cries.

Betty finally calmed herself, bent over and picked up the Book, which had fallen out of her arms in the scuffle. "You left the Book in your office. Where _anyone_ could have taken it. I left you two voicemails and sent five text messages." She took a breath. "So your welcome."

"Jesus Betty, you didn't have to do all that. I'm sure the creepy janitor wouldn't have taken it," Daniel responded, incredulity showing on his face. He opened his door and Amanda stalked inside, whimpering and rubbing her behind and throwing the two of them death glares.

"Aha, so it's not just me, that guy _is_ creepy." Betty offered a half smile at her lame joke and handed the Book to Daniel. "Well anyhow, I need to get home," Betty said quickly. She could see Daniel start to protest, but she turned away. "See you tomorrow."

Betty attempted to walk to the elevator, but a shooting pain in her right ankle made her stumble. Before Betty could fall, Daniel caught her.

"I don't think you're going to make it there on your own. And like you pointed out, it's one in the morning." Daniel looked concerned and pulled Betty close to him, trying to steady her. The Book was smashed between them.

Betty pushed away from Daniel as much as she could, but with his arms wrapped tightly around her she couldn't move far. "Well I'm sure as heck not staying here with you and her and... whatever." Betty shuddered at the thought of whatever.

Daniel chuckled and stepped back from her, keeping one hand lightly at her back in case she lost her balance again. "I wasn't planning on having you stay over Betty. I can get a town car to take you home." He looked down at her foot. "I don't think it's broken. You seem to be able to put weight on it without screaming in pain. Maybe just sprained?"

"Yeah, but I can't really walk that well," Betty sighed.

"Come inside. We'll put some ice on it while we wait for a car. I have some extra crutches back from when I sprained my own ankle." Daniel bent down and put his arm around Betty's waist to help her inside and Betty relented because the pain in her ankle made her feel like crying, just a little, and she didn't want Daniel to see her like that.

Once inside and situated on one of the chairs facing Daniel's enormous bed, Betty leaned her head back. She was tired, but the pain in her ankle wouldn't let her fall asleep. Of course, the last thing Betty wanted to do was fall asleep at Daniel's place. Lord knew what him and Amanda would start doing and Betty wanted to stay on her guard.

Amanda lay on her side in the king size bed. Her moans of pain had settled and she dug into a container of ice cream that she had somehow found while Betty and Daniel were in the hallway. Between bites, Amanda put the container on her backside. She looked at Betty thoughtfully, the recent incident and her pain seemed to have flown out of her mind. "Betty, as great as your... work ethic is, maybe you should reconsider your wardrobe choices. That flower thing you have going on," she waved her arm to indicate Betty's dress, "is _not_ working for you. You look like my nana... when she's on her pain meds and delirious."

"I'll take that into consideration Amanda." And Amanda turned back to her ice cream, closing her eyes and smiling. 'Apparently she does eat,' Betty thought and smiled to herself.

Daniel, who had gone to the kitchen, came back with a bag of ice and a towel. He pulled a stool over to Betty and carefully, with Betty wincing slightly, put her bad leg onto it. He placed the ice in the towel and then onto her leg.

"The car should be here in about ten minutes," he said while taking off his coat and throwing it on another chair. He grabbed the Book from where he had tossed it on a side table, sat on the bed and looked fully at Betty.

Betty squirmed on the chair, trying to get comfortable and gingerly held the ice in place.

"How long were you out there?" Daniel finally asked, after looking Betty over for a few minutes.

"Um," Betty thought back. "Since 8 o'clock."

Daniel seemed surprised by that bit of news. "Why didn't you just leave the Book at the office?"

"Well, like I said, _anyone_ could have taken it and I thought you were coming straight here. Not to mention... since the magazine goes to print tomorrow at 6pm and you have that meeting at ten in the morning, I figured you would want to look it over thoroughly... you know because it's your first issue." Betty looked pointedly at Daniel.

Daniel looked at the floor, and tried not to let the shame he felt at shirking his duty show on his face. "Well thank you Betty for, um, bringing it over." He sighed and looked at her, his face apologetic. "You shouldn't have had to do my job for me and I appreciate you, um, going above and beyond the call of duty."

"Hey it was nothing." Betty seemed to reconsider her words. "Well it wasn't _nothing_, the floor out there is hard. But I did spend most of the time asleep, so we're good." Betty smiled widely at Daniel and Daniel grinned back, relieved she had forgiven him.

"As touching as this moment is," Amanda interrupted, sarcasm dripped from her voice. "Can you two please shut up. My ass can't stand the talking anymore."

Betty rolled her eyes and Daniel chuckled. He got up and went to his closet, emerging with a pair of crutches. He was adjusting them for Betty just as his cell phone chirped.

"The driver's here. Come on, let me help you up." Daniel carefully helped Betty from the chair and to the door. He gave her the crutches and held her purse while she adjusted herself.

Daniel walked behind Betty as she slowly made her way to the elevator. With a slightly annoyed sigh as Betty stopped to adjust herself again, Daniel moved in close and before she could protest, he took the crutches away scooped her up in his arms and walked steadily toward the elevator.

"Daniel!" Betty cried, slightly distraught at the sudden turn of events. "What are you doing?" She tried to wiggle out of his arms.

"Well, I'm carrying you, your purse and the crutches down to the car. And if you don't stop moving around so much, I'm going to end up dropping you. And it will hurt." He smiled at the look of slight terror on her face. "Not to mention I would like to get to bed at some point tonight and you were taking forever."

"Yeah, I'm sure you really want to get to _bed_ soon," Betty replied sarcastically, but she stopped fighting him.

Daniel continued to just smile as they rode the elevator down to the street. He carefully placed Betty inside the waiting town car and gave the driver instructions to help her out of the car when he dropped her off.

"Well goodnight Betty. Thanks again for your intense dedication," he said with a laugh.

"Yes it's all funny coming from the only person who didn't sprain anything tonight." Betty countered, annoyance showing on her face. "You should get back to Amanda before she decides to get worker's comp."

"Will do," Daniel replied with a smile. He shut the car door and turned to go back inside.

* * *

><p>Betty woke up early the next morning tired but unable to go back to sleep. She had gotten in around 2am and luckily everyone had been asleep, but her progress up the stairs to her bedroom had been slow and painful.<p>

Betty sat up and swung her legs off the bed. She hesitantly put her right foot on the floor. She eased her weight slowly onto it and tried to gauge the pain level. When she didn't feel like crying out, Betty slowly stood up and managed to hobble across her room without too much pain. Satisfied that she wouldn't need to use the crutches and cause her family alarm, Betty went about getting ready for work.

"What happened to you?" Hilda whispered at the foot of the stairs as Betty made her way down. "You didn't get in till two in the morning."

"Were you spying on me Hilda?"

"No, but you _do_ know my window faces the street and I heard you come home - in a town car by the way. So is there something you need to tell me about you and your boss?" Hilda kept her voice low, but stood with her hands on her hips and a determined look on her face.

Betty knew she wasn't going to get past Hilda without an explanation, so she launched into the story of what happened after she called the house last night.

Hilda eyed her sister carefully. "Wow. Ok, one, next time you leave the Book at work. It's his job to remember that thing and if he gets in trouble for leaving it lying around, then that's on him-"

"But Hilda-"

"No Betty. And two, your boss seems to get around _alot_ and you need to be careful. You can't afford to lose this job."

"Wait. What? What are you talking about?" Betty was surprised by her sister's statement and had no idea what she was talking about.

"Come on Betty. You've told me how he's made several comments about how pretty you are and now he's carrying you around in his arms. You need to be careful."

"Ok, first of all Hilda, Daniel carried me because it was taking me forever to use the crutches and he wanted to get back to his date. And him telling me I'm pretty or alluding to it is just his way of being nice, especially after that Natalie picture thing." Betty paused and took a breath. "And even if for some crazy reason my boss had any interest in me, which he doesn't, I am so _not_ interested in him."

"So you haven't noticed that your boss is really hot and really wealthy?" Hilda was skeptical.

"I don't care about the money Hilda, and as for his looks, well he's good looking sure, but he's also full of himself, pretty selfish and a complete womanizer, all of which sort of cancel out the good looks." Betty was frustrated and tired. Everything she had said was true, but her sister still looked doubtful. Betty sighed. "Seriously Hilda, can I please go eat now, I'm hungry and I have a long day today."

"Sure," Hilda mumbled, still worried. And she watched her younger sister hobble slowly into the kitchen and heard their father exclaim about his poor mija.

* * *

><p>Betty was at her desk early. She knew Daniel wouldn't be in for another half hour, but Betty figured she would get a headstart on her emails. As she was reading something from the photo editor about the Natalie cover, Betty remembered the Book and decided to text Daniel.<p>

Betty: _By the way, I forgot to say that it's very brave and impressive that you used the original photos._

She clicked through some emails.

Daniel: _What original photos?_

Betty: _You know, the unretouched photos of Natalie in the Book._

Betty began to type out a memo when her cell phone rang. She saw Daniel's name on the screen.

"Hi Daniel, what's up?"

"Why are there unretouched photos in the Book! I never approved that!"

Betty stared at her computer. "Ok, calm down Daniel. The magazine doesn't go to print until six. If you didn't approve them, then I'm sure it was just a mistake. We can get them changed out." She frowned at the idea of the altered photos and felt she had to say something. "But you know, Natalie really didn't look bad in those pictures."

She continued typing her memo while holding the phone between her shoulder and ear. "Daniel?"

She stopped typing and got concerned. "Daniel?"

"Oh my god Betty, I think my father's going to kill me."

* * *

><p>Daniel was very relieved that the leaked unaltered photos to Fashion TV hadn't ruined his short career at Mode. Of course he knew that the so-called leak had been Wilhelmina's doing, but since he didn't have proof he had to let it go.<p>

The fact that Natalie Whitman took the whole thing really well was all due to Betty, and Daniel knew that. Betty had told Natalie what she needed to hear to feel good about herself, and Natalie and her publicist decided to spin the whole event in their favor.

Daniel sat at his desk watching Betty work. Although he couldn't fully appreciate everything Betty had to offer, Daniel did know a good thing when he saw it and knew he and Betty made a good team. Especially since Betty had replaced his sweatshop shoes with a pair of very comfortable non-sweatshop American made ones.

So Daniel decided that his best course of action regarding Betty and any attraction he felt for her, was to push those feelings aside. After all, it wasn't like she was his soulmate or something.

As Daniel started looking through that morning's style section, he got a text. He looked at his phone and saw it was from Betty.

Betty: _So here's me before._

And there it was. A picture of a smiling Betty with bad hair, bushy eyebrows, braces and ugly glasses. Daniel smiled.

Daniel: _You were still beautiful._


	4. Pretty Betty gets the Photographer

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ugly Betty.

_This chapter is based around 'Queens for a Day.'_

_Despite the many liberties I plan on taking, I decided to be as true to the geography of New York City as I could be. I will be using the Woolworth Building (which is the actual building used for the exterior shots) and its exact location as the Meade Building. So all points of reference will start there. I will use the location of __**Eleven**__** Madison Park**__ as the location for Madison Six, because I'm pretty sure it's the restaurant they were basing Madison Six on._

_As a side note, it takes about 17 minutes by car (I'm guessing no traffic) and an hour by public transportation to get from Jackson Heights in Queens to the Woolworth Building._

_Research is fun._

_*For the question about how Betty looks - imagine season 4 Betty from 'Plus None' with no braces, slightly slimmer and like three years younger._

* * *

><p>Betty wished she were going to the club with Christina.<p>

If Christina were going then she wouldn't have to worry about making small talk with models or drinking alone. She also wouldn't have had to look for the perfect 'first issue with Daniel as the EIC nightclub' dress with her preteen nephew.

As it was, Betty was freezing her ass off waiting to get into the nightclub, a place called Vamp.

The strapless dress was hot pink and fitted and came halfway up her thighs. A thin black satin belt held her in and the one saving grace Justin allowed her was a matching fitted satin tuxedo jacket - though he swore up and down he would disown her unless she took it off when she got inside.

Though Betty felt practically naked, the worst part of it all were the four inch black satin strappy heels that Hilda made her wear. She teetered on them perilously and hoped no one would bump into her too hard.

She hadn't even wanted to look in a mirror. If she had, Betty would have snuck back in the house when no one was looking and hid out in her room.

Betty still felt like going home and was just about to turn around and do so when Amanda came strutting up to the bouncer, linked arms with Betty and dragged her inside.

"I am _so_ proud of you Betty," Amanda uttered in her sultry voice. "You look _so_ hot, and now _everyone_ can tell you're 30."

"Amanda I'm 22... but thanks I guess." Betty pried Amanda off her arm as they went up to the bar. Amanda then turned around, shrugged off her jacket and leaned against the bar with her chest thrust out. She eyed the room like a tiger on the prowl.

Betty began to order a banana daiquiri for herself, but Amanda turned her head to the bartender, "no, she wants a Lemon Drop," then turned back to the hunt.

"Amanda, I can order my own drink."

"No Betty, apparently you can't." Amanda surveyed the nightclub and found her target. "Trust me on this one." Then Amanda sashayed across the room. Betty turned back to the bartender who placed a 'Lemon Drop' cocktail in front of her. "No, I didn't want..." But he had already walked away.

Betty looked around the nightclub while sipping on her drink, finding she didn't mind the taste that much. She spotted Daniel across the room talking to reporters. She smiled to herself and hoped this success gave Daniel the boost he needed to keep working hard.

She sipped her drink again and the warmth from the alcohol began to spread through her. With that and the heat from the pressing bodies in the club, Betty began to feel hot, so she took off her jacket and perched herself on a stool at the bar.

She looked around the club again and swayed in her seat to the beat of the music. She wanted to dance, but didn't feel comfortable dancing alone at a Mode function just yet.

Amanda came back arm in arm with two tall blonde models. Or at least Betty assumed they were models by the way their faces never seemed to show any emotion but a slightly pensive far-away look.

"So this is Sven and Johan, and they're Swedish models for Mode and Johan here _really_ wants to _dance_ with you Betty." Amanda said all this in between biting her lower lip suggestively, winking and lifting an eyebrow. Betty wasn't sure if dancing meant dancing or _'dancing'_ with all the sexual innuendo that Amanda managed to put into that harmless sentence.

"Um, _okay_." Betty gulped down her drink, enjoying the mix of lemon, sugar and alcohol, then followed Johan out onto the dance floor.

* * *

><p>Talking to his father always made Daniel feel like crap. But when you added Wilhelmina and references to the brilliance of Alex Meade, the very dead but still present older Meade son, then Daniel was not in a good mood.<p>

He got himself a rum and coke and sat at the bar. He wasn't planning on getting drunk, but he needed something to take the edge off.

As he nursed the drink and looked at the dancing crowd, Daniel saw a flash of pink. Then the crowd parted and he saw Betty.

She was dressed to kill in a short pink dress and high black heels. Her smile was bright as she shimmied on the dance floor. Despite the loud music and the distance, Daniel heard her laugh and it made him warm inside.

The moment she laughed though, Daniel noticed a tall blonde man grind up on her. From the looks of him, he appeared to be a model. Betty laughed again and moved slightly away from him, but the man was on her again and grinding hard.

Daniel convinced himself that the anger that sprouted up in him was an urge to protect his innocent assistant and strode toward the two dancers. "Hey can I borrow you for a second?" He directed to Betty, a coolness in his voice that didn't mirror his murderous thoughts toward the tall blonde.

Betty smiled at Daniel. "Of course Daniel. Excuse me Johan, duty calls." And Daniel was satisfied to see a slight look of displeasure in the otherwise vacant eyes.

Daniel lead Betty out and away from the club. She followed him without argument but cast him worried glances. Betty hadn't known Daniel that long, but she could tell something was bothering him.

They had been walking slowly for five minutes in complete silence. Betty waited for Daniel to speak, guessing that he would tell her what was wrong when he found the right words.

She shivered as a cold wind blew through her hair and realized she had forgotten her jacket in the club. Daniel noticed her shivering and took off his suit jacket and placed it around Betty's shoulders. She smiled gratefully and pushed her arms through the sleeves, her hands hidden inside because of the length.

Daniel stopped walking and turned to face her. "So apparently Mode sells Mode."

"What?" Betty felt slightly confused by the sudden remark.

"I didn't really do anything for this issue. Everything was pretty much decided when I stepped in and all I did was sign off on it." He took a deep breath. "This issue did well, but Mode doesn't need me to sell it. It's a brand."

"Come on Daniel," Betty responded firmly. "What about the Fabia account? And the cover? You were a part of those."

"That was all you Betty. I didn't come up with the Fabia concept. You did. And I didn't get a say on who was going to be on the cover or even what she would wear. You had more to do with that than I did," he said quietly.

Betty sighed. "Okay, you're right Daniel." At that Daniel looked astonished, but Betty continued on. "It wasn't exactly _your_ issue from front to back, but you've been here _two_ weeks. This next issue will be different because it'll be all yours. No Fey, no Wilhelmina. Just _you_. And I know you can pull it off." Betty felt like she was on a roll. Daniel's growing smile spurred her on. "You managed to hold your head above water despite all the naysayers and guess what, you're still _here_. And you still have time to prove yourself with the next issue and the one after that and the one after that and... well you get the picture."

Now Daniel's smile matched Betty's in intensity and he felt like he could do anything. He wanted to kiss the girl in front of him for making him feel so alive, but commonsense told him that _that_ would be a bad idea. So he settled for pulling her back to the club by one of the jacket sleeves.

* * *

><p>They spent the rest of the party in a corner booth talking about Daniel's ideas for the magazine. He wanted to look at back issues of his brother's magazine to see how Alex had made it jump off. Betty figured anything was worth checking into if it helped increase sales.<p>

When she got up to go to the bathroom, he stared after her longingly before he shook himself. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' Daniel thought. He knew he needed to distract himself and when he saw a pair of long legs at the bar, he knew exactly what kind of distraction he needed from his wholly inappropriate thoughts of Betty.

Betty came back from the bathroom to find Daniel gone from their booth. She surveyed the club and spotted him at the bar hitting on a leggy brunette. Betty rolled her eyes. "Of course," she muttered. She thought about staying longer and grabbing another dance with Johan, but Betty was tired and knew she wouldn't last another minute out on the dance floor. So she grabbed her jacket and left.

* * *

><p>It was 2am.<p>

Daniel: _Are you ok, did you get home safe? I didn't see you leave._

Betty had gotten home 15 minutes before and was cleaning the make-up from her face.

Betty: _Yeah I'm home. I'm good boss._

Betty still had her dress on and was admiring herself in the mirror. She still felt naked and wasn't sure if she liked showing that much skin.

Daniel:_ Just wanted to let you know, you looked really great tonight._

Betty smiled at the text. She looked at herself in the mirror again. 'Well,' she thought, 'it's not like I have to dress like this at work.'

Daniel: _Really great._

Betty took off her dress and hung it up. She slipped into her pajamas. She knew Daniel felt guilty about ditching her, so she decided to let him off the hook.

Betty: _Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow. Go have fun _;)

Daniel: _Tomorrow._

* * *

><p>Betty rode up the elevator the next day with back issues of Hudson Magazine.<p>

Amanda was in the elevator when Betty got in and the receptionist turned to her. "Too bad you went off with Daniel the other night, because I'm pretty sure Johan wanted to jump your _hot_ tangy goodness."

"Ew, Amanda." Betty cringed. "Please don't refer to my... goodness. And I wasn't about to go and sleep with some guy I just met."

"I don't see why not Betty. You look decent, and I'm 70% sure you're not a virgin."

"Okay, well not that it's _any_ of your business... I'm not one. But that still wouldn't lead to me sleeping with a guy I barely know whose only dance moves included humping my leg half the night."

"Oh _god_ Betty, it's like you're Amish." The elevator doors opened and Amanda strutted to her desk.

Betty shifted the heavy box in her arms and made her way to Daniel's office.

They spent the rest of the day poring over Hudson magazine. They looked at the models and photographers Alex had used, and even the font style for the cover.

Betty picked a photographer's book from a pile. "I really like these photographs. He's amazing. He's shot everyone from Madonna to the Dalai Lama."

"Yeah, that's Vincent Bianchi. And he'll never work for us."

"Well, why not?" Betty questioned.

"When he worked with Alex, they got into this huge blowup. He thought Alex was a fraud. Alex thought he was some temperamental artiste. He vowed never to work for Meade Publications again."

* * *

><p>Betty sat at her kitchen table the next morning examining photographs. She hadn't found any that spoke to her the way Vincent's work did. It was like the man had captured her mind through the lens of his camera.<p>

Her father walked in to start making breakfast. "You didn't get in till three last night. Why are they keeping you so late?" He asked, with concern showing on his face.

"Well, my boss is trying to make some changes at the magazine. And I'm looking over these photographer's books." Betty gestured to the large pile of binders in front on her.

"Well, they're working you too hard. You tell 'em you want a raise."

"Okay, dad." But Betty was distracted by the book she was looking through.

Ignacio looked down and recognized a name amongst the pile. "Vincent Bianchi?"

"Yeah, he's really amazing." Betty said without looking up.

Ignacio looked thoughtful. "So he ended up making it as photographer, huh? Damn, I always thought that kid would end up in jail."

Betty looked up at her father, confusion in her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"Vinnie Bianchi - he grew up over on Grand." Ignacio waved his arm in the direction of the street. "His family owns Astoria Lemon Ice."

Betty sat up. "He grew up four blocks from here?"

"Yeah, his old man's always going on about his kid's pictures. He's got a bunch of 'em hanging up on the wall in there."

Betty excitedly stood up and gathered the binders splayed out on the table. "Dad I have to go," Betty said in a rush. "I love you."

"I love you too." Ignacio reached for a morning cup of coffee. 'Heart condition be damned,' he thought. But before he could take a sip, Betty yelled out from the living room, "put down the coffee!"

* * *

><p>Daniel was still stunned. Apparently, all it had taken was sausage and peppers and Vincent Bianchi had agreed to meet with him... and Betty of course.<p>

Betty, who now sat between Daniel and his father wearing her brightest smile. Despite the purple dress she wore that made her look sophisticated (purple was his new favorite color), Betty was as giddy as a young school girl. Luckily the ride to Madison Six was only ten minutes long, because Daniel didn't think Betty could hold out much longer before her joy bubbled over.

They walked into the restaurant to find Vincent already waiting for them. Without meaning to, Betty felt herself become instantly shy. He was very good looking, with his black leather jacket and facial hair. Betty still couldn't believe she had grown up only four blocks from this super hot photographer. He made a comment about the forks that Betty didn't quite catch and suddenly Daniel was introducing her.

"Hi," Betty said timidly, extending out her hand. Vincent's eyes lit up and he smiled widely.

"Well you're Betty Suarez," he said, shaking her hand. His eyes taking her all in.

Betty sat next to Vincent, and Daniel and Bradford followed. Betty and the photographer talked about the old neighborhood for a few minutes while the two Meades sat by quietly.

Betty, who had managed to overcome her sudden shyness, tactfully steered the conversation over to Mode. Vincent tore his eyes away from Betty as Daniel began to describe what his vision was for the next issue and why Vincent should work for him.

Vincent considered the offer, noting that Daniel was nothing like Alex. Where Alex had been arrogant and overbearing and fake, Daniel was humble and genuine. But in the end, it was Betty's presence that pushed Vincent to accept the offer.

As they all stood up to leave, Vincent pulled Betty aside. Bradford went out to the car to wait, while Daniel stood near the host at the front of the restaurant. He looked at the two as Vincent whipped out his phone and Betty began to type her number into it.

Daniel's stomach ached at the sight, but he pushed the feeling aside, turned and began to walk to the car.


	5. Pretty Betty gets in Trouble

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Ugly Betty.

_So I wasn't sure whether or not I would include the episode 'Swag' in any of my chapters. Depending on how you saw the show, it's either episode 11 with flashbacks or episode 4 without flashbacks and the Fey mystery thrown in._

_I've sort of decided to just follow along with 'Fey's Sleigh Ride' for now._

_*To the question about whether or not I plan to follow the along with all the episodes, but with my own pretty twist - I'm definitely going that route. So don't expect Detty to come up any time soon. I love jealous Daniel far too much _;)

* * *

><p>Daniel Meade was a playboy. He was a womanizer. He could admit that to himself. Of course, they weren't necessarily bad things to have to admit to being. But this admission gave Daniel the impression that he could have any woman he wanted. <em>Any<em> woman and all he had to do was stand there. He could stand around in his tailored suits and look at a woman with his baby blues and she would start to flirt or get really nervous and shy or just outright throw herself at him. It happened to every young woman he met and quite a number of the older ones.

Except for Betty Suarez.

When it came to Betty, Daniel thought it had been _his_ choice not to pursue anything. He thought that he was pushing aside his attraction for this beautiful woman so he could keep a wonderful assistant. It just never occurred to him that Betty wasn't attracted to him too.

Not until she started dating Vincent Bianchi.

He noticed the way she got all shy when she first met the photographer and figured Betty was just excited to meet him. He saw how they looked at each other when they were talking, but he chocked it up to two people from the same neighborhood reminiscing. It wasn't until Betty gave Vincent her number and came back to the town car smiling a small little smile to herself, that Daniel realized whatever attraction there was between him and his assistant was one-sided.

He saw a smitten Betty who was not smitten with him, and it bothered the crap out of Daniel. It wasn't that his ego was busted, because if Daniel was being honest with himself, and not actively trying to dismiss his feelings, he would admit he was jealous.

* * *

><p>Monday - A Good Day... Mostly.<p>

Betty sat in the closet with Christina relating the events of her first date with Vincent Bianchi.

"Oooh, and then he took me to this gallery where they have all this modern art. You know, the kind where they use found objects."

"That's great love. So did you kiss him?" Christina asked, steering the conversation to juicier bits.

"It was just a first date."

"I see. So I'm guessing you won't be riding that stallion any time soon," Christina said matter of factly.

"Christina!" Betty exclaimed, her cheeks turning red.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Christina lowered her voice. "Are you still a virgin?"

"Why does everyone think that?" Betty said in exasperation. "No, I'm not a... you know. But I don't exactly want to sleep with a guy unless I really care about him."

"That's sweet Betty... so how many guys have you slept with?" Christina asked with a hint of mischief in her eyes.

"Christina!" Betty exclaimed again. And this time her whole face started to turn red from embarrassment.

"Come on love. If you can't even talk about it, why bother doing it?"

"Um, _okay_." Betty thought for a minute. "I had three boyfriends in college. George was my first boyfriend ever, but we were only together for two months and we never... did it. Then after him there was David. He was my first." At this Betty blushed furiously and ducked her head. "I really liked him and we were together for a year. And then there was Michael. We dated for five months. We... well you know." Betty ducked her head again. "So two guys."

"Hmm," Christina pondered. "Didn't you ever just go out on dates?"

"Just one, this guy named Walter. But he was _so_ not my type and I only went out with him once and there just wasn't any spark when I kissed him... I guess that sort of turned me off on going out on dates altogether."

"Well see that's the problem. You've never really dated, so you've never experienced the joy of third date sex." Christina smiled at the look of shock on Betty's face.

"I don't think I'm comfortable with 'third date sex' Christina. Can I just start with kissing and work my way up from there?" Betty asked meekly, afraid to look Christina in the eyes.

"Ok love. As long as you don't wait too long to jump him."

* * *

><p>Betty smiled as she walked back to her desk. Vincent had just called her to set up another date for that night. Apparently he couldn't wait to see her again and he didn't want to wait for the weekend. Betty was excited.<p>

Despite her excitement, Betty knew she couldn't sleep with him without really knowing him more and probably (read: definitely) loving him. She just wasn't that type of girl.

Betty sat in front of her desk and started sifting through memos. There was a last minute concept meeting in an hour and Michelle from features needed information on a designer.

She got up and went to Daniel's office to inform him about the meeting. He sat behind his desk hovering over proofs. When Betty came in he still hadn't looked up, so she started in. "Daniel, there's a concept meeting in an hour to go over some final details for the holiday spread."

"Okay."

"And I set up that lunch for Friday with Halle's people."

"Who?"

"Halle Berry, meeting, Friday."

"Oh, right."

He still hadn't looked up. Betty took a deep breath. "Daniel, is something wrong?" Betty went deeper into the office until only the desk separated them.

Daniel looked up from the proofs. He saw the worried look on Betty's face. So he smiled to reassure her. "No, I'm fine Betty. I'm just putting together the presentation for my father tomorrow."

"Are you worried about it?" Betty asked, concern etched on her face.

"No, no. But this is my first big shoot and it's sort of a big deal and my father actually has to approve it."

"So what bothers you more? That you may not get his approval or that you need it at all?" Betty was afraid she had overstepped a line, but Daniel didn't look mad.

He pondered her question for a minute. "I guess I can't be too upset that he has to approve it. He's approved the holiday spread every year, even when Fey was in charge. I suppose it would be nice if he actually approved it without making any... comments." Daniel sighed and looked back down at the proofs.

"Daniel, I'm sure your dad will love what you came up with. I've seen how hard you worked on this. I should know, I _was_ there most of the time." Betty smiled brightly until Daniel looked back up. He gave her a small smile, but she didn't move.

"Was there anything else Betty?"

"Yes, the concept meeting."

"Oh right. I have to meet with Wilhelmina and Vincent to go over some stuff." Daniel noticed a slight twitch when he mentioned the photographer and he tried not to let it bother him.

"Yeah, it's in..." Betty looked at her watch, "fifty-five minutes."

"Okay, can you pull together the photos for the mock-up that we went over last night, call Christina about the flak jackets and have her bring them in, and call to find out which models are being sent over." Daniel went back to hovering over the proofs and Betty went back to her desk to make phone calls.

* * *

><p>Daniel was surprised to find that he had had a productive meeting with Wilhelmina. Neither one of them had yelled and she didn't attempt to take over. All in all it was a good meeting. Except for the presence of Vincent Bianchi.<p>

It's not that Daniel hated Vincent, and he certainly respected the photographer's abilities. But every time Betty came in to drop off some photos or bring in a model, Vincent would look up at her and give her a smile and she would smile back and Daniel would try not to frown.

Daniel didn't know what was wrong with himself. When Betty wasn't around, he was fine with Vincent. When he had been in his office earlier with Betty, he was fine with her. But when he was around both of them at the same time, he felt like crap.

The worst part of the meeting was when Wilhelmina had to step out and Daniel realized they would need to work late on the mock-up.

"That's fine, but I'm going to have to take a three hour break. I have a date." Vincent had said it so nonchalantly that it had taken Daniel a moment to process what he meant. Daniel didn't exactly need the photographer the whole time, and was really including him on the whole process so Vincent could have some creative control. So Daniel knew that he couldn't exactly stop Vincent from going on his date.

But he could stop Betty.

* * *

><p>The smart rational part of Daniel told him that he was being ridiculous. That interfering with one date wasn't going to stop what was happening. That if he did this once then he would keep doing it and Betty would become suspicious. That he had no right to do this. That he was Betty's boss, not her boyfriend, and that this sort of behavior would get him in trouble. That there was no real reason why he should even care.<p>

The stupid reckless part of Daniel that had been in control for a very long time snickered at rational Daniel.

Daniel decided to be reckless.

At the end of the day when Betty came in to see if Daniel needed anything else before she headed off, he asked her to stay for a minute. He pretended to concentrate really hard on some photos while she stood in the doorway impatiently.

Finally after a full minute had passed, Daniel looked up at her. "I'm sorry Betty, I'm going to need you to stay late tonight. I need your help putting together the mock-up."

He saw the frown on her face and instantly felt guilty. "Daniel, I would love to stay, but I have plans tonight."

His face fell. "Oh."

Betty saw the look on his face and knew she couldn't resist helping him. She knew how important the presentation was to Daniel and she wanted to help him as much as possible. "Maybe I can reschedule," she said with a smile.

Daniel hadn't meant to make Betty feel sorry for him, and the fact that she was willing to cancel her date (he decided to ignore that she was in fact going to reschedule it) made him feel even guiltier. He could have taken the higher road at that moment, but reckless stupid Daniel was in charge. "Thanks Betty."

Betty went back out the door, presumably to call off her date. Daniel was just glad that neither her nor Vincent knew that _he_ knew about them.

What stupid Daniel hadn't counted on was the fact that since Vincent wouldn't be going _out_ on his date with Betty that he would instead stay at Mode. And that Daniel would have to watch them flirt all night long.

* * *

><p>Tuesday - Tamale Night.<p>

It was networking night at The Rack. Amanda had invited Betty to join her and Marc when they went. Marc protested at the intrusion, but Betty told him that she would go anyway so she could meet people from other magazines and learn more about the business. Marc rolled his eyes.

"This is pretty cool and look they have grilled cheese."

"Okay, ground rules Betty," Amanda replied, "Stop with the chatting. Don't be so nice. And no one eats the grilled cheese."

"She's having one," said Betty, gesturing to a woman at the bar.

Marc huffed. "Well of course _'Fat'_ Carol is eating one, what do you expect?"

Betty rolled her eyes. "Anyway, so how does this networking thing work?"

"You have to work the room," Amanda replied in the slightly suggestive quality she had. Then she and Marc sashayed away.

Betty found herself drinking a cocktail and talking shop with Carlo Medina from 'Isabella' and some other assistants. They were eagar to hear about how she had saved Mode during the Fabia fiasco. Betty insisted it had been all Daniel's vision. She made jokes and they all laughed. Carlo had especially taken a shine to Betty. It was a good night.

Marc was disgusted. He couldn't understand how someone with barely any fashion sense and such a _bubbly_ personality was managing to have everyone hang off of her every word. Especially that cute guy from 'Isabella.' Life was _so_ unfair.

Amanda was proud. Her new little brown faced friend was working the room. Even that yummy specimen from 'Isabella' was at Betty's side. Time to work it herself. She threw back another Cosmo and strutted up to the bar. He was _so_ yummy.

* * *

><p>Wednesday - All Hell Breaks Loose.<p>

Betty stepped off the elevator with her nephew Justin. He had a school project to work on involving following someone around at their job, and Betty was it. Marc and Amanda followed in her wake. They rounded a corner and the conference room came into view. They stopped completely when they saw what was happening inside.

Betty held her breath as she watched Vincent angrily toss a chair. He started tearing down the posters of the holiday spread from the walls, while yelling at the top of his lungs.

Betty watched as Wilhelmina stood by silently. She heard Daniel say, "calm down."

"How can I calm down when somebody leaked our ideas? 'Isabella' magazine literally stole our entire feature spread!" With that Vincent pushed the mock-ups from the table to the floor.

Betty could hear Amanda say, "oh my god." She could hear Marc suck in his breath sharply and say, "Carlo Medina." But all Betty could say was, "he bought me a drink."

* * *

><p>Marc and Amanda had convinced Betty to keep quiet for all their sakes. But Betty still felt guilty. Wilhelmina and Daniel had told all the employees at Mode that someone needed to come forward and confess leaking the spread or, as Wilhelmina put it, "someone's head will roll."<p>

Betty didn't want to lose her job or cost Marc and Amanda theirs. They had convinced her that there was the possibility that if Wilhelmina knew Betty had leaked the information about the tanks while at The Rack, then it would draw a straight line to Marc who had mentioned the flak jackets by Anh Vu-Tran, and to Amanda who had given away the 'Planet of the Apes' style buried Santa.

Betty was also worried how Vincent would take her leaking ideas to 'Isabella.' She liked the photographer and knew he was passionate about his work. She _had_ seen him throw a chair after all.

But despite the worry over losing her job and upsetting Vincent, Betty was mostly distressed about Daniel's reaction. Betty felt bad about keeping this huge thing from Vincent, but she just couldn't keep this from Daniel.

"Here's your dinner. You must be starving," Betty said, placing Daniel's dinner on his desk. Everyone had had to stay late to work on a new holiday spread.

"Thanks Betty. You know what? You can take off. I'm sure your nephew's sick of the closet by now anyway. You worked hard today." He looked up from the photos on his desk and smiled.

"Okay," Betty said quietly and turned away. But the guilt overwhelmed her and she turned back around. "You know what, Daniel? I have something to say. The night before the leak, I was at The Rack, and I was talking to a guy from 'Isabella' -"

Daniel cut her off. "You know what Betty, I don't really have time to hear about this right now." He hoped she would take the hint.

"But Daniel, we're supposed to be a team and I don't want to hide things from you."

"Listen to me Betty." Daniel came around from his desk and put his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her eyes. "I don't have to know about everything. Especially if knowing about it means I'd end up losing you. So... have a great night."

Betty didn't know what to say. She was surprised by the fact that Daniel would rather the truth didn't come out then to lose her. She felt her skin tingle where his hands rested, and the feeling gave her pause, but she stepped away from him and turned around again and walked away.

Daniel sat down heavily on his desk. The thought of Betty getting fired was just too upsetting to think about.

* * *

><p>Marc and Amanda came to her house that night. Betty tried not to think about how they had gotten her address. While Amanda dug into her father's flan, they tried coming up with a way to avoid getting fired.<p>

All the different departments had gone into Wilhelmina's office that day, and no one had been fired. Wilhelmina now knew that Marc, Amanda and Betty had been at The Rack with Carlo Medina from 'Isabella.' They were screwed.

"We're pinning it on 'Fat' Carol," Marc said with finality, after 15 minutes of arguing.

"What?" Betty was shocked.

"Well, we have to say something when Wilhelmina calls us in."

"Marc that's not fair, we don't know if she did anything." Betty could not believe she was hearing Marc trying to pin the blame on someone else.

From between bites of flan, Amanda said, "you know she calls you 'Fat' Betty, right."

"What?" Betty cried out, surprised that Carol would say that.

"I _know_, you're not even that fat," Amanda said in an almost reassuring voice.

Betty felt sick to her stomach. "See, this is why I hate secrets. They turn into lies, which are worse."

Marc was not deterred. "'Fat' Carol hates her job. Would she eat so many grilled cheeses if she cared?"

"Marc, I don't think we can get her fired because she likes to eat. If that were the case, then _I_ should get fired."

"Exactly," Marc said, as if Betty had proven his case.

"Betty, does your father have anymore of this?" Amanda indicated the empty pan in front of her. Betty rolled her eyes at the both of them and went to the kitchen to get more flan. When Betty came back with another pan of the custard, Marc was figuring out their plan of attack.

"We just have to stand united and all say we saw her at The Rack talking to Carlo." Marc ignored the glare from Betty.

"Fine," Betty said through gritted teeth. She took a breath. "And let's say we say that. Won't Wilhelmina wonder why we didn't come to her sooner with this information."

"Uh, _no_. It's 'Fat' Carol. People usually try not to think about her going anywhere or doing anything. We just say that we forgot about her. Wilhelmina would understand that."

"Mmhmm," Amanda concurred, while eating her way through another pan.

Betty wasn't sure about their plan. She hated lying. Now she was lying to Wilhelmina, Vincent and Daniel (though with his consent, which was confusing). Now she was about to blame someone else. What if Carol got fired?

On the other hand, Betty had worked so hard to gain her position at Mode, and she was really starting to get the hang of things. Not to mention she really needed her job to help pay bills at home.

Betty was torn and confused. She had no idea what to do, so she put her head on the table and listened to Marc and Amanda trade insults about 'Fat' Carol and 'Isabella' magazine.

* * *

><p>Thursday - Judgment Day<p>

Just as Daniel and Vincent had run out of ideas for a new holiday spread, Wilhelmina suggested they do a tribute to Fey Sommers. The previous editor-in-chief had done the unthinkable by putting herself in the holiday feature spread some 20 years before. Daniel knew that his father wouldn't like them changing the spread without consulting him, but Daniel needed to fix the problem without having his father chew him out again.

But none of that mattered at the moment, because all Daniel could think about was the music box sitting on his desk.

'To My Fey With Undying Love' was inscribed on the inside.

It looked just like the one his mom had received for Christmas one year, except his mom's name was Claire. It also looked like the one Fey was holding in the holiday spread in which she appeared.

During the last couple of weeks, Daniel had received a few odd phone calls from a strange woman. He'd had Betty field the calls and tell the woman that unless she gave up her name, he was not speaking to her. The woman had been trying to insinuate something about his father. But Daniel was a pro at dealing with the tabloids, so he had pretty much dismissed anything the woman said. Until the music box appeared.

Daniel felt like he was going to be sick.

Betty walked in the door at that point. "Good morning Daniel. I brought you your coffee. I didn't realize you were coming in so early." She noted the odd look on his face and became worried. "Are you okay? Do you need something?" Daniel didn't say anything and she noticed him looking at a music box on his desk. It was playing soft music. "Where'd that come from?"

He didn't say anything for a minute and just continued to stare at the thing on his desk. Finally he spoke quietly to Betty without turning to look at her. "When I was 12, I had the worst Christmas of my life. My father had just gotten back from Switzerland. He brought my mom a music box... Exactly like this... She loved it. A few days later she hid the thing in the attic. She set fire to a thousand copies of Mode magazine. On one would ever tell my why."

Betty became uneasy, but continued to look at Daniel. "So, is this your mother's?"

"No, it appeared here this morning. Apparently my father bought two of them - one for his wife and, um, one..." He couldn't say the words, but Betty supplied them for him. "For his mistress," she said quietly.

"That's why Fey put herself in the feature spread. She was flaunting the affair in my mother's face." He seemed disgusted and Betty couldn't blame him.

"I'm sorry Daniel." She reached out and put her hand on his the shoulder. "Was there anything inside?" He shook his head. He felt inclined to take her hand in his, but before he had even moved, she had turned toward the music box. "You know the top lifts out."

She lifted the top level of the music box and revealed a pair of burned sunglasses and part of a burned and twisted license plate with 'FEY' lettered across it. Betty thought back to the disturbing phone calls Daniel had received. Their importance took on a new light. "This woman is trying to connect your father to Fey Sommers."

Daniel shook his head. "She's doing more than that Betty. She's trying to connect my dad to Fey's death."

Betty was stunned. She knew Fey had died in a terrible car crash, which was how Daniel ended up being made EIC of Mode, but she couldn't believe that his father would have killed the woman. Especiallly not 20 years after Daniel's mom had definitely known about the affair. What was there to gain?

But they were interrupted by Vincent, and Betty felt a wave of guilt. All thoughts of the music box and its implications were driven out of her mind when she remembered where she had to go that morning.

Betty was brought out of her head when she saw Vincent head out the door with Daniel following. "Wait. Daniel?" He stopped and turned around to face her. "You should probably know I have a meeting with Wilhelmina in five minutes."

Daniel looked alarm and closed the door behind him. "Really? You?"

"Yeah, me and Amanda and Marc."

Daniel became worried. "You sure you know what you're doing?"

"Not a clue," Betty sighed.

Daniel stared at Betty for a moment and gathered himself. "Just be careful what you say."

* * *

><p>Betty was on cloud nine. Not only had she finally relieved her guilt by coming clean to Wilhelmina, but it turned out that 'Fat' Carol had indeed leaked the whole spread. Wilhelmina even let them off the hook for what little they had said. Calling Marc, Amanda and Betty, horny, drunk and naive, respectively.<p>

She went to the studio and saw Daniel walking toward her. Betty was surprised to see him in a better mood considering the music box, a copy of which she now brought to him in a black bag.

"So, Wilhelmina told me what happened." He gave her a small smile.

Even though Daniel seemed okay with her, Betty still felt bad. "Daniel, I'm sorry... for everything."

He again put his hands on her shoulders, 'to reassure her' he told himself. "You know, it's okay to hide things sometimes. Especially if not hiding them means I might lose you." Daniel knew he was saying that more to himself about his own attraction to her.

He really didn't want to lose her.

* * *

><p>Friday - Date Night.<p>

Betty and Vincent had rescheduled their date for Friday night.

He picked her up at her house and took her to dinner in the city. She wore a blue dress that showed off her cleavage (Justin's doing again) and the 'B' neckless her mom gave her.

After dinner, they took a stroll around the theater district and Vincent showed her some of the places that inspired him. Betty talked about her time in college and later Vincent bought her ice cream for dessert.

The evening was perfect. Except for the nagging guilt Betty had about not telling Vincent her role in the whole holiday spread debacle.

They stood in front of her door to say goodnight, and Betty heard Christina in her head telling her to go for it. But Betty knew she couldn't kiss Vincent unless she told him the truth. "So, I had a really good time with you tonight," Betty began. Vincent looked down at her smiling. Before she could lose her nerve she went on, "I have something to tell you... about the 'Isabella' thing. You see-"

Vincent cut her off with a kiss. Betty was surprised, but kissed him back.

When he finally pulled back, Betty had an anxious look on her face. Vincent smiled again. "I know what happened with the shoot."

That time Betty was definitely surprised. "And - and your not mad?"

"Hey, you've barely been working in this business. I know you don't know how cut throat people can be. It's why I don't do that much work in fashion." He smiled at the incredulous look on her face. "Hey, I'll call you tomorrow okay."

Betty smiled and nodded. "Okay."

"Goodnight, Betty Suarez," Vincent said, and he turned away and walked down to his car.

"Goodnight," Betty replied, and Vincent turned back and smiled at her again before climbing in his car and driving away.

Betty went inside and leaned against the front door. She thought about the kiss she had just shared with Vincent.

Then Betty sighed loudly and looked up at the ceiling.

She knew she had to break it off with him.

Because Betty hadn't felt anything when they kissed.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: Between what actually happened in the episode that will affect the future and my own twist on events, this came out to be another long one. It was hard sometimes to know what to cut out from the original episode, because even though I'm sure I could have written around Betty being in trouble, Daniel's sudden need to keep Betty with him was way too good to write out.<em>

_I had considered putting in the phone calls in previous chapters, but simply mentioning them above with the music box made all that unnecessary._

_I know you all caught that shoulder thing and this very last part, which refers back to the whole spark thing. I could have Betty and Vincent keep going out, because it seems like it's ending before it even began, but the next chapter comes with the beginning of the big canon relationship I know many of you Detty people hate._

_But hey, I do love drama._


End file.
